


Adam W.

by adadshi



Series: Adashi Month 2019 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adashi Month 2019, Everyone Is Alive, Galaxy Garrison, M/M, Minor Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 14:10:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19889128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adadshi/pseuds/adadshi
Summary: Determined to prove that he's good enough for Shiro, Adam pushes himself to become the best soldier the Galaxy Garrison has ever seen.(Adashi Month prompt: Adam W.)





	Adam W.

Adam W. is a man who has suffered. His fiancé was more in love with the stars that he was with him and was so unsatisfied with their life together that he retreated to the very edge of the universe away from him. He almost lost everything, his job, the respect he earned from his peers, his sanity, after his fiancé was pronounced dead, but he pulled himself back to glory. Adam W. is a man who has suffered, but he is also a man who will never let it get the better of him.

While the world still mourns for the ill-fated Kerberos crew, Adam works to ensure a tragedy like it will never happen again. A group of the Galaxy Garrison’s best brains and pilots come together to create machinery that won’t be affected by something quaint but killable like pilot error. They create plans for a new kind of fighter aircraft, a Mecha-Flex-Ares fighter, and work tirelessly to build it. Prototype after prototype, Adam tests each new version and critiques it harshly. He’s always been brutally honest.  _ Not fast enough _ is his most common piece of criticism. After years of ceaseless hard work, a final design is created. The final Mecha-Flex-Ares fighter. 

Adam is the first to fly it. He’s amazed by the inexhaustible speed and agility the aircraft can achieve. It is the Garrison’s greatest invention yet. No space explorer will ever be endangered with something like this. For a while, that notion satisfies Adam, but it isn’t long before he wants something new to sink his teeth into. 

It’s at this time when Sam Holt, a man thought to have been killed in the Kerberos disaster, arrives back to Earth with not only fascinating new materials and information but also the news that the entire Kerberos crew are alive and caught up in an intergalactic rebellion against purple aliens. Adam rolls his eyes when he hears this.  _ Trust Takashi to do something idiotic like that _ , but it’s also Takashi who’s defending the universe with a legendary robot warrior named Voltron so Adam now has a tiny bit of respect for him again. But now Adam has a new challenge: to defend Earth from the incoming alien invasion. 

With the new materials Sam brought to Earth, the Garrison can push their weapon and aircraft production even further than before, and Adam stays at the forefront of it. Hand him a gun, he’ll shoot it. Give him a suit of armour, he’ll wear it proudly through training and battle. Sit him in the cockpit of a fighter, he’ll do a loop-de-loop, a barrel roll and any other manoeuvre perfectly. Civilians enjoy watching him fly and Adam would never want to give a boring show. 

The most exciting new aircraft Adam gets to test is a new kind of Mecha-Flex-Ares fighter: the Mecha-Flex-Exo-Ares fighter. It’s built with parts from the 10,000-year-old shuttle Sam travelled back to Earth in but it’s a monstrous piece of technology. It can exceed Mach 10 in a matter of seconds and charges quickly. It’s the future of warfare. With the remaining materials, four MFE fighters are created, and four senior cadets are given the opportunity and honour to fly them. Adam decides that if he can’t fly these monsters, then he’ll mentor their pilots.

The four MFE pilots are pains in Adam’s neck, but he learns to appreciate them over time. Ina Leifsdotter is dry and passive, but she’s the eyes and ears of their team. The second a new challenge presents itself, she’s on the ball with reporting it to her teammates and mission control. She’s detailed and purposeful in everything she does. At first, he misreads Nadia Rizavi’s courage and daring as her being an adrenaline junkie, but she quickly proves herself to be a skilled pilot and mechanic. She can fix an MFE fighter engine in three minutes even as it falls through the air. She’s a model example to all younger mechanics and even her seniors. Adam warms up to Ryan Kinkade the easiest. He’s quietly confident and one of the best snipers the Garrison has. In the air, he follows orders and carries them out unquestioningly. A perfect soldier, unlike James Griffin. Griffin’s golden reputation precedes him. He is snarky and spiteful and stubborn and Adam adores him. Mentoring the four of them brings Adam a certain joy he wasn’t sure he would ever feel again after Takashi left him. He encourages them and pushes them to their full potential. The hard work will pay off when the inevitable invasion happens.

He’s been waiting so long for the invasion that when it finally begins and the purple aliens arrive on Earth’s doorstep, Adam is anxious to get in the air. When he isn’t training the MFE pilots, he’s been leading a squadron of Mecha-Flex-Ares fighters. He sits in the hangar with the MFA pilots, all of them waiting for orders. Adam takes his phone out of his pocket and sends a text to the MFE pilots.

“If I’m sent out there you’d all better behave. Don’t make a fool of yourselves or me.”

Instant replies of “yes, sir” and “good luck, sir.”

Before he tucks his phone away, he also sends, “Take care of yourselves.” 

A few moments later, the speakers at the top of the hangar blast out an order for the MFAs to get ready for battle. Adam takes a deep breath and prepares himself.  _ Right, this is it, time to prove yourself _ . He gets into his suit in the locker room and charges out to the runway, his team right behind him.

The moment they’re in the air, they’re targeted by the looming alien warship. It’s huge, bigger than anything the Garrison has, but Adam grits his teeth and musters all the determination he has. He knows that he can do this, if not from his talent and skill then from his unwavering stubbornness. He’s not dying today. No one’s dying today if he has anything to say about it. 

The first few minutes of battle are easy. He and his teammates fly around the big alien warship, shooting at it and dodging any retaliation with ease. Their laser blasts are too big and clumsy for attacking small ships. Adam encourages his teammates through the coms and their collective anxiety gives way. 

But then smaller fighters come from the warship and begin to chase the MFAs. Adam watches in horror as his team are picked off one by one. He shoots down as many as he can, but it’s never enough. Mission control screams orders into his ear. Smith shrieks in agony. Weber and his fighter go up in flames. Everything overwhelms Adam and his senses, so much so that he doesn’t even notice the enemy fighter coming right towards him until it’s too late.

For a moment, Adam accepts his death. But then he remembers that he still needs to punch Takashi in the face for being such an idiot and he fights for life. As his MFA fighter goes up into flames and crashes down, he jumps out and pulls the cord to deploy his parachute. His suit is on fire and he fears that it’ll spread to his parachute but the adrenaline pushes all rational thoughts from his brain. The wind jerks him in different directions and he lets it, uncaring for where he lands. When his body finally lands on sand, he allows himself a few moments to weep before getting to work.

The looming alien warship and smaller fighters might have disappeared, but the desert is cruel to Adam. The scorching sun makes his mind hazy and exhausts him. He fires burned his legs so terribly that he can’t even feel them or walk, instead, he pulls himself across the boiling sand on his forearms. He comes across on oasis and dunks his entire body in the cool water, almost accidentally drowning himself in the process. The chill is heavenly, but things change at night. It becomes cold and impossible to see in the dark. Adam doesn’t like the idea of accidentally crawling into a hungry coyote’s territory. He sleeps until the sun rises and then continues on his trek back to the Galaxy Garrison. Not only does he need serious medical attention, but he also hates the idea of missing out on any action. 

Adam counts the days as they pass. On the eighth day of wandering his hunger becomes a crippling pain. On the twelfth day, he hallucinates a shack in the horizon. On the thirteenth day, he realises that the shack is not a figment of his imagination and is a real structure. He crawls inside and desperately eats the dusty cubes cheese in forgotten mouse traps and licks at a dog bowl for any remains of water. He finds a small bathroom and drags himself up to drink from the tap. He can barely reach it with his limp legs, but the few drops his tongue can reach are heavenly and fill him with a hunger for more. More water, more food, more life. 

The next two days are spent scavenging through the piles of junk for materials to make a radio. He needs to communicate with the Garrison. He made something like this as a young cadet and found it simple, but the steps and instructions escape him all these years later. When he finally tunes into a Garrison channel, he whoops with delight.

“It’s me! Get a search party out here and pick me up. What have I missed?” 

Somehow Adam had miraculously tuned into James Griffin’s coms and the senior cadet is more than happy to drive out and find him.

“We thought you were dead, sir.” He splutters.

“As if I’d ever allow death to take me before I get to see you and your team grow old.” Adam scoffs. He sits with his back against the dusty couch and winces, “Just get here quick- death is beginning to tempt me.”

Griffin traces his radio signal back to the little shack. Meanwhile, Adam entertains himself by going through the piles of junk lying around. He only realises that it belongs to Keith Kogane when he finds a photograph of the three of them underneath a couch pillow. Keith disappeared shortly after Takashi did but before that the three of them were close. Adam misses how he idolised Takashi and how Takashi fawned over him like a good big brother. Maybe some parts of Takashi were alright.

Thankfully Griffin rescues him before he can reflect further on his relationship with Takashi. He carries Adam out to his car and tosses a generously large bag of potato chips onto his lap. Adam devours them while they drive through the lonely desert to civilisation.

“I need to warn you, sir,” Griffin grumbles, “Things aren’t as pretty as when you left them.”

Adam chokes on his chips and a few crumbs come flying from his mouth.

“But we won, right?”

“Not this time.” 

“The MFAs… how many survived?”

Griffin is silent for a few moments before answering, “Just you, sir.”

Guilt constricts Adam’s chest and he punches the dashboard, yelping at the pain that ripples through his arm. He doesn’t like to dwell on his failures, but he can’t help but wish that he trained harder, that we focused better, that he could’ve done something that turned the battle around.

“The rest of the MFEs are alright, though.” Griffin says suddenly, “And we’re taking in as many refugees as possible. We can fix this, sir. Voltron will be coming soon as well.”

Frankly, Adam doesn’t give a toss about Voltron, but he isn’t in the mood for chatting. He settles his arms on the dashboard and rests his head there, sleeping until they make it back to the Garrison.

Adam isn’t sure about how long he sleeps for, but he feels refreshed and healthy when he wakes up in the Garrison hospital wing. A doctor informs him that the burns from the battle would leave lifelong scarring on his legs and face. Adam’s legs were so destroyed that he didn’t even notice the damage to his face. Inspecting himself in a handheld mirror, he saw how his right cheek was a light shade of pink and slightly lumpy. His eyebrows and a lot of his hair were scorched off. Adam has never been the vainest when it came to his physical appearance but it was shocking to see how his face has been forever changed. 

He’s most upset about his legs. The doctor says he should be thankful they don’t need to be amputated but Adam doesn’t feel thankful. The fire burned away at nerves, rendering his legs completely useless. A wheelchair is silently placed next to Adam’s bed. He understands what it means and tries not to cry. 

He stays in the hospital ward for seven weeks before he’s allowed to wheel himself down to the runway to see the EMF pilots. His private hospital room was for family only and not even Rizavi could bribe the nurses to let the team inside. Adam watches them perform impressive manoeuvres in the air and is filled with a sense of pride. As they spot him, they land and rush out to see him.

“Adam!” Rizavi yells before straightening up and correcting herself with a more serious, “Sir!”

Adam waves a hand, “Adam is fine, Nadia.”

Nadia grins.

The four senior cadets take a break from their training to sit with Adam and fill him in with all he missed. James tells him about how they’ve been working on the ground to take territory back from the alien invaders but are making little progress and that the Garrison are making a new ship called the IGF-Atlas. Nadia complains that the invasion has resulted in many of her favourite soap operas being cancelled. That’s the most interesting piece of news for Adam because his guilty pleasure is watching soap operas while taking a bubble bath but he pretends not to know any of the shows she lists.

They chat idly for thirty minutes before Ina says, “Voltron and the paladins arrived on Earth.”

Adam chokes and gapes at her. Voltron is here and they’re just telling him now?

“And Takashi Shirogane is with them?” 

Ina nods, “He’s working on the IGF-Atlas with Sam Holt and Commander Iverson.” 

“Did he try to see me?” 

The four pilots look at each other before all shrugging.

“Ha.” Adam snorts, “It’s a good thing I’m in this chair or I would’ve drop kicked him already. Ryan, wheel me to the IGF-Atlas please.”

Ryan does just that. Adam plans a speech in his head ( _ Ah ha, you left me because you were unsatisfied with our relationship but look at me now! Am I good enough for you now? Well tough luck, Takashi Shirogane, you aren’t getting any of this! _ ) and then rewrites it ( _ Oh, you’re a paladin of Voltron? You think you’re so cool? Wait until I tell you about the complete and utter bull I’ve powered through over the last few years, mister! _ ) and then decides that his best material will come when he finally sees Takashi’s stupid face. Yes, this will be brilliant. All of his suffering will be worth it when he sees how Takashi will suddenly regret ever leaving him.

The IGF-Atlas isn’t exactly wheelchair accessible but Ryan does a good job at pushing the clunky chair through the long corridors to the cockpit. The doors automatically slide open and Adam lays his eyes on a familiar frame. His eyes narrow and he bares his teeth. Finally, he can give Takashi a piece of his mind. 

But all Adam’s malice and spite turns to dust when Takashi turns around and their eyes meet for the first time in years. He looks different now, older and wearier. He still has that dumb fringe but his hair is a snowy white colour. There’s a pink scar running across the bridge of his nose and he has a prosthetic arm. 

“Oh, Takashi.” He whispers. The love and adoration he felt for the man so many years ago floods back to him and his eyes well with tears. Takashi stumbles forward and falls onto his knees in front of Adam.

“I’m sorry.” He chokes out in that beautiful voice of his. Adam can’t resist the urge to hold his arms out and hold Takashi in his arms. He slots perfectly against his body, his head tucking underneath Adam’s chin and his waist against his knees. Adam feels like his limp legs are getting in the way and make it awkward but he couldn’t care less. 

Adam W. is a man who has suffered, but Adam W. is also a fighter. With each bad situation life throws at him, he does his best to make something good of it. He goes on to co-command the IGF-Atlas with Takashi, the two of them finally together again. Although their relationship still needs work and Adam still feels the urge to punch Takashi daily, he can’t wait to rekindle their love. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! If you want to see me crying about this fic and Adashi in general, please check out my twitter at @/adadshi.


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